Tent frame



06L 1957 E. c. WALLACE ET AL 2,

TENT FRAME Filed Oct. 29, 1956 INVENTORS. EARL C; WALLA REN Y WAR M. RID

ATTORNEY United States Patent TENT FRAIVIE Earl C. Wallace, Andrews, and Warren M. Rider, Huntington, Ind., assignors to The Hettrick Manufacturing Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application October 29, 1956, Serial No. 619,063

1 Claim. (Cl. 135-3) This invention relates to tent frames particularly of the knock-down type and an object is to produce a simple and eflicient tent frame which can be readily erected or dismantled, is of rod and tube construction by which adjacent members can be fitted together quickly, without difiiculty and without the use of special tools; which can be economically manufactured and compacted for shipment; and which is sturdy and reliable in position of use.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear and for purposes of illustration but not of limitation, an embodiment of the invention is shown on the accompanying drawings in which Figure l is a perspective view of the tent frame in erected position;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing the manner in which the rafter poles are connected to the ridge pole;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing the manner in which the cave poles and rafter poles are connected to the corner posts; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective view showing the manner in which the base poles are connected to the corner posts.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises a tent frame having a base of rectangular form composed of four metallic base rods 10. Opposite ends of each of the rods has an upturned portion 11, extending at substantially right angles to the adjacent portion. These upturned end portions fit into sockets 13 formed in upright corner posts 12 which are in the form of tubes. It will be observed that opposite ends of each of the posts 12 is formed by swaging or otherwise to provide a pair of sockets of a depth approximately equal to that of the upturned ends 11. It will be observed that the sockets 13 are arranged in close juxtaposition so that the end portions 11 almost abut each other, thereby to provide the desired form of the base.

The upper ends of the post 12 are similarly formed, each to provide a pair of sockets 13 and fitting into a socket 13 at the upper end of each of the corner posts 12 is a downturned end 15 of the upwardly inclined rafter rods 14. That is the lower end of each of the rafter rods (there being four in number) is downwardly inclined and fits into the outermost of the socket 13 in the upper ends of the corner posts 12. The upper ends of the rafter rods 14 are bent inwardly at substantially right angles to fit into socket 17 formed in the horizontal ridge pole 18, the pole 18 being in the form of a tube and being provided with sockets 17 similar to the sockets 13 above described. Thus the sockets 17 are disposed in a horizontal plane and each pair of sockets receives the inturned end portions 16 of the rafter rods at that end of the tent frame.

Supported by the corner posts 12 are intermediate or eave rods 19 (there being two in number) and arranged on opposite sides of the tent frame extending longitudinally thereof. Each of the cave rods has a downturned end portion 20 disposed at substantially right angles to the rod and fitting into the innermost of the sockets 13 in the adjacent corner posts 12.

From the above description it is manifest that the tent frame can be simply and economically manufactured, it being a matter merely of bending rods to provide the proper end portions and corner posts and a ridge pole formed of tubing and provided with integral socketed end portions at opposite ends, each providing a pair of sockets to receive the bent end portions of the adjacent rod. The entire assembly can be quickly erected to position of use and as simply and quickly dismantled when not in use. The structure lends itself to being compacted in a rela tively small space so that shipping and storage problems are reduced to a minimum.

Numerous changes in details of construction, arrangement and choice of materials may be effected without departing from the spirit of the invention, especially as defined in the appended claim.

What we claim is:

A tent frame comprising a base consisting of rods having upwardly bent end portions, corner posts in the form of tubes having a pair of integral juxtaposed sockets at opposite ends, the upwardly bent ends of the base rods fitting the sockets at the bottom end of said posts, rafter rods having downturned ends, each of said downturned ends fitting one socket at the upper end of the adjacent corner post, right angle ends on the upper end of each rafter rod, a ridge pole in the form of a tube having a pair of integral juxtaposed sockets at each end for receiving the right angle ends of said rafter rods, and cave rods having downturned ends fitting the other sockets at the upper end of said corner posts.

No references cited. 

